Closure latch



lan. 6, 1970 R. R. Mmmm mm. MMM? CLOSURE LATCH Filedmarcn 12, 196e 2shams-sheet 1 JHM 5, 1970 R. R. BARNETT Erm. @,Mmw@

' CLOSURE LATCH Film1 March 12. 1968 g Sheets..sh@@t in.

ATTORNEY United States Patent O CLOSURE LATCH Ronald R. Barnett,Rochester, and Joseph J. Magyar,

Warren, Mich., assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich.,a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 712,553 Int. Cl.Ec 3/16; E051 3/00 U.S. Cl. 292-216 12 `Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A vehicle body door lock includes a bolt and a pivoted detentfor holding the bolt in latched position against movement to unlatchedposition. An outside push button handle is connected to the detent by anintermittent link which is movable between connected and disconnectedpositions with respect to the detent to selectively couple and uncouplethe push button handle and the detent. A locking lever is movablebetween locked and unlocked positions and is connected to theintermittent link to move the intermittent link between connected anddisconnected positions. A shiftable member is pivotally and slidablymounted on the detent pivot and has an arm which underlies a tab of theintermittent link so that the shiftable member is coupled at all timesto the intermittent link. The shiftable member includes a first shoulderlocated in the path of movement of an inside remote lever when theshiftable member is in coupled position. When the bolt moves tounlatched position, it engages and moves the shiftable member againstthe bias of a torsion spring to an uncoupled position wherein the irstshoulder of the shiftable member is located to one side of the path ofmovement of the inside remote lever. A holding lever engages a secondshoulder of the shiftable member to maintain the shiftable member inuncoupled position when the bolt moves from unlatched to latchedpositions. A second lever coaxially pivoted with the holding lever isconnected to the locking lever and to an inside garnish button. Thisbutton may be moved between INTERMEDI- ATE and DOWN positions to movethe locking lever between locked and unlocked positions and may betemporarily moved from INTERMEDIATE to UP position to move the holdinglever out of engagement with the second shoulder of the shiftable memberand permit the torsionspring to move the shiftable member to coupledposition.

This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly tovehicle body door locks.

One feature of this invention is that is provides a vehicle body doorlock having a detented bolt, inside release means for releasing thebolt, and means for automatically disconnecting the inside release meansand maintaining the release means in disconnected position each timethat the bolt moves from latched to unlatched position. Another featureof this invention is that the inside release means may be reconnectedwhen desired by operation of an inside garnish button. A further featureof this invention is that the inside release means is coupled to thedetent through a shiftable member and the bolt shifts this member to auncoupled position with respect to the inside release means as the boltmoves to unlatched position. Yet another feature of this invention isthat holding means is provided for maintaining the shiftable member inits disconnected position when the bolt returns to latched position. Yeta further features of this invention is that an inside manual operatoris provided to release the holding means and permit the shiftable memberto move to a coupled position with respect to the inside release means.Still another feature of this invention is that the ICC shiftable memberis coupled at all times to an intermittent member which connects anddisconnects an outside release means and the detent. Still a furtherfeature of this invention is that the inside manual operator is movableto three positions, UP, INTERMEDIATE, and DOWN, movement of the operatorbetween INTERMEDIATE and DOWN positions selectively connecting anddisconnecting the intermittent member and the detent and movement of theoperator between INTERMEDIATE and UP positions releasing the holdingmeans. l

These and other features of the closure latch of this invention will bereadily apparent from the following specification and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational view of a vehicle body embodyinga closure latch according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partially broken away View of the closure latch with thebolt shown in latched position;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the bolt in unlatchedposition;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 4 4of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective View.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body 10 includes afront door 12 swingably mounted adjacent its forward edge 14 on the body10 for movement between a closed position, as shown, and an openposition, not shown. Door 12 is held in closed position by a closurelatch 16 according to this invention. Mounted on the outside of door 12is a xed handle 18 including conventional push button operating means20. Also mounted on door 12 is a conventional key lock cylinder 22 forplacing the closure latch 16 in either locked or unlocked condition.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 2, 3 and 5 of the drawings, thelatch 16 includes a main frame or plate 24 which is adapted to abut theinside surface of the rear wall of door 12 and to be secured thereto byscrews extending through the rear wall 25 of the door into tappedopenings 26 provided in the plate 24. A back frame or plate 28 islocated in spaced relationship to the plate 24 by means of lateral anges30 and 32 at the front and lower sides of plate 24 staked to the plate28. An upper ange 34 and a side ange 36 also extend from plate 24 toplate 28. A fork type bolt 38 is swingably mounted on a pivot shaft 40,stacked to the plates 24 and 28, for movement between a latchedposition, as shown in FIG- URE 2, and an unlatched position, as shown inFIGURES 3 and 5. A coil torsion spring 42 mounted on the shaft 40 hasone leg thereof engaging an abutment or pin 44 of the bolt and the otherleg thereof engaging a notched lateral tab 46 of the plate 24 in orderto continually bias the bolt 38 toward its unlatched position whereinthe edge 48 of the bolt engages tab 46. When the bolt 38 is in latchedposition, it straddles the shank of a headed striker pin 50 which isthreaded into the lock pillar of the body. The location of the head ofthe striker pin adjacent the inside surface of the bolt 38 provides aninterlock between the striker pin and the bolt, and the shank of thestriker pin is wedged into the bolt by engagement of the head of thestriker pin with a shoe S2 which is slidably mounted on a pin 54extending between flanges 56 and 58 of the plate 28. A compressionspring 60 biases shoe 52 into engagement with flange 58. A lateral ange62 of plate 28 underlies and slidably supports the shoe 52 andterminates in a ange 64 staked to ange 32 of plate 24.

The plate 24 is notched at 66 to receive the striker pin 50 andlikewise, the inner panel and rear wall 25 of the door 12 are alsonotched so that the striker pin can be received within the bolt when thedoor is closed.

Bolt 38 is held in its latched position against the action of spring 42by a detent lever 68 swingably mounted on a pivot shaft 70 staked toplates 24 and 28. Lever 68 includes a foot 72 engaging' either ashoulder 74 or a shoulder 76 of the bolt to hold the bolt in either afully latched position, or a partially latched safety position,respectively. A coil torsion spring 78 mounted on the shaft 70 has oneend thereof engaging under a lanced lateral tab 80 of plate 28 and theother Yend engaging an arm 82 of detent 68 to bias the detent in acounterclockwise direction and hold foot 72 in engagement with shoulder74 or 76 of the bolt. A rubber bumper 84 mounted on a lanced lateral tabof the plate 24 is engaged by another arm 86 of the detent to locate thedetent against the action of the spring 78.

The plate 24 includes an upper channel shaped eXtension 88 and agenerally L-shaped main outside operating lever 90 is pivoted at 92 tothe extension 88. An intermittent member or link 94 includes an upperoffset tab 96 received within a slot 98 of lever 90 to couple theintermittent member to the outside operating lever. The lower end of theintermittent member includes a lateral arcuate tab 100 which normallyunderlies a shoulder 102 of the detent. The intermittent member isguided for shifting movement and also located with respect to the detentby means of a closed elongated slot 104 therein receiving a lateral benttab 106 of a locking lever 108 which is pivotally mounted at 110 on theplate 28. The locking lever is movable between an unlocked position, asshown, and a locked position slightly clockwise from the position shownby either the outside key lock cylinder 22 or the inside garnish button112, FIGURE 1, and is held in either its locked or unlocked position bya coil type overcenter spring 114 hooked between the locking lever andthe plate 28.

A bellcrank lever 116 and a detent lever 118 are coaxially pivoted at120 to a lateral flange 122 of plate 28. A lateral tab 124 of lever 116overlies a tab 126 of lever 118. Tab 126 is normally biased toward tab124 or clockwise as viewed in FIGURES 4 and 5 by a coil torsion spring128 hooked to the tab 126 and to the plate 28. An apertured lateral tab130 of the lever 116 is connected to a like tab 132 of the locking lever108 by a double U bent rod 133 so that movement of the locking leverresults in movement of the lever 116 and vice versa as will bedescribed. The other leg of the lever 116 is pivotally and slidablyconnected to a bellcrank 134 which is pivoted at 136 on a lateral flangeof the frame 28. A rod 138 connects the bellcrank to the garnish button112.

The garnish button 112 is movable to three positions, UP position,INTERMEDIATE position, and DOWN position. v

when the garnish button 112 is in its INTERMEDI- o ATE position as shownin FIGURES 2 and 4, the locking lever 108 is in unlocked position. Thislocates the intermittent link 94 in coupled position, with the tab 100of this link underlying the shoulder 102 of the detent lever 68 so thatthe outside push button operating means 20 can release the detent. Thetab 130 seats on the lower leg of the bent rod 133 to permit clockwisemovement of the locking lever 108 to locked position by means of the keycylinder 22 without any movement of the leve1 116, since the bent rodwill merely slide relative to the tab 130 and the tab will then belocated adjacent the intermediate leg of the rod 133.

When the garnish button 112 is moved from the IN- TERMEDIATE positionshown to the DOWN' position, not shown, tab 130 engages the lower legofthe bent rod 133 to shift the locking lever 108 slightly clockwise ofits position shown in FIGURES 2 and 3 to locked position to shiftthe tab100 of the intermittent link out from underneath the shoulder 102 of thedetent lever 68.

When the garnish button is in its INTERMEDIATE position, tab 124overlies tab 126 but is located in spaced relationship thereto and thesame is also true when the garnish button is in its DOWN position,except that the spacing between the tabsl 124 and 126 is greater. Thusmovement of the garnish button 112 between INTER- MEDIATE and DOWNpositions has no effect on the levei 118. l

lWhen the garnish button 112 is in UP position, not shown, the lever 116is located counterclockwise of its position shown in FIGURE 4 so thatthe tab 124 of this lever picks up the tab 126 of lever 118 and swingslever 118 slightly counterclockwise of its position shownin FIGURE 4.'This movement of lever 118 is against the action of thespring v128 sothat the UP position of the garnish button is only a temporary positionand the garnish button will remain in 'this position only so long as itis held, Should the garnish button be moved to UP position fromINTERMEDIATE position, tab y will merely move upwardly relative to therod 133A and no movement of the locking lever 108 will occur. When thelocking lever is in Vlocked position, tab 130 is located adjacent theintermediate leg of the rod 133. Therefore if the garnish button is inDOWN position and is moved to UP position, tab 130 engages theintermediate leg of the rod 133 vand shifts the locking lever tounlocked position as the garnish button moves through INTER- MEDIATEposition to UP position.

The locking lever 108 is conventionally located in either locked orunlocked positions by engagement of a tab 139 of plate 28 with oppositesides of a groove in the locking lever under action of the overcenterspring 114.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the body 10 includes a conventional inside remotehandle 140 which is connected to a remote lever 142, FIGURES 4 and 5, bya shiftable rod 144. The remote lever 142 is pivoted at 146 on a lateraltab 148 of the frame 28. A movable coupling member 150 includes anelongated slot 152 adjacent one end thereof which is pivotally andslidably received on the pin 70 which mounts the detent 68 on the frames24 and 28. The member 150 includes an arm 154 at one end thereof whichunderlies a lateral tab 156 of the intermittent link 94 at all times.The other end of the member 150 includes a pair of shoulders 158 and160. The member 150 additionally includes a lateral tab 162, and a coiltorsion spring 164 interconnects the member and the frame 28 tocontinually bias the member 150 to the right as viewed in FIGURES 2, 3and 5.

When the bolt 38 is in latched position as shown in FIGURE 2, the detentlever 118 seats on the upper edge 166 of member 1S0|under the action ofspring 128 and the member 150 is vlocated against the action of thetorsion spring 164 by the engagement of the lever 118 with the shoulder158. This locates the shoulder 160 underneath the ar'm 166 of the remotelever 142 so that movement of the inside remote handle 140 to shift therod 144 forwardly of the body will swing the member 150 clockwise aboutthe pin 70. The arm 154 of'the member 150 Will then pick up theintermittent link 94 by engagement of the arm with tab 156 and in turnrelease the detent by the engagement of the tab 100 of the intermittentlink with the shoulder 102 of the detent.

When the bolt moves to vunlatched position as shown in FIGURE 3, the pin144 of the bolt will pick up the tab 162 of the member 150 to shift themember 150 to the left. During this movement of the member 150, whichwill of course remain coupled to the intermittent link 94 as the arm 154of the member moves relative to the tab 156, the member 150 will moverelative to the member 118 so that this lever`will move out ofengagement with the shoulder 158 and into engagement with a shoulder 160of the member 150. With reference to FIGURE 3, it will be'noted thatwhen the member 150 is shifted to the left by the bolt 38 the shoulder160 no longer underlies the arm 166 of the remote lever 142 so that theinside remote handle 140` is now disconnected from the detent.

When the garnish button is in INTERMEDIATE position, shown in FIGURE 2,and the bolt is in'latched position, the detent lever 118 seats on theupper edge 166 of member 150 under the action of spring 128. Spring 164biases member 150 to the right to hold the left-hand end of slot 150against pin 70. This locates shoulder 160 underneath the arm 168 oflever 142 so that movement of the inside remote handle 140 shifts rod144 forwardly of the body and swings the lever 142 clockwise as viewedin FIGURE 4 to in turn swing member 150 clockwise about pin 70 as viewedin FIGURE 2. The arm 154 of member 150 picks up the tab 156 of theintermittent link 94 to shift the intermittent link upwardly so that tab100 of the intermittent link picks up shoulder 102 of the detent andreleases the detent. The bolt 38 will then move to unlatched positionunder the action of spring 42.

Should the locking lever 108 be in locked position, rather than unlockedposition as shown in FIGURE 2, upward shifting movement of theintermittent link will have no effect on the detent 68 since the tab 100of the intermittent link will be to the left of the shoulder 102 of thedetent.

When the bolt moves to unlatched position, the pin 44 of the bolt willpick up the tab 162 of the member 150 and shift the member 150 to theleft, as shown in FIG- URE 3, against the action of spring 164. Thedetent lever 118 will then move into engagement with shoulder 158 of themember 150 under the action of spring 128. Shoulder 160 is no longerlocated underneath the arm 168 of the lever 142 so that the insideremote handle 140 is disconnected.

When the bolt 38 moves from its unlatched position of FIGURE 3 to eitherits intermediate or fully latched position, pin 44 will move out ofengagement with tab 162 of member 150. However the engagement of detentlever 118 with shoulder 158 retains the member 150 in its disconnectedposition shown in FIGURE 3. Thus, each time that the door is opened, theinside remote handle is disconnected.

Should it be desired to reconnect the inside remote handle when the dooris closed, the garnish button is moved to its UP position, previouslydescribed. This swings the detent lever 118 slightly counterclockwise tomove it out of engagement with the shoulder 158. Spring 164 then movesthe member 150 to its position shown in FIGURE 2 to reconnect the insideremote handle 140. As soon as the garnish button is released, spring 128returns the button to its INTERMEDIATE position and moves the detentlever 118 into engagement with the upper edge 166 of member 150preparatony to the next cycle of opening and closing movement of thedoor 12.

The closure latch of this invention also includes the features ofautomatic undogging and keyless locking, a1- though these features areindependent of operation of the member 150.

As best shown in FIGURE 5, the intermittent link 94 includes a lateraltab 170 which is located adjacent and in the path of a shoulder 172 ofthe detent 68 when the intermittent link 94 is shifted to the left toits uncoupled position. When the door is closed from an open position,the ratcheting of the detent foot 72 past the shoulder 76 of the boltcauses the shoulder 172 to engage the tab 170 and return theintermittent link 94 to its coupled position to obtain automaticundogging. If the outside push button means is depressed before the dooris closed, tab 170 is shifted upwardly out of the path of the shoulder172 so that no engagement occurs and the intermittent link remains inuncoupled position when the door is fully closed. Thus keyless lockingis obtained. As previously described, the garnish button 112 must bemoved to its UP position in order to couple the member 150 with thelever 142 and, thus, the locking lever 108 is always returned to itsunlocked position in order for this movement of the garnish button tooccur. Thus, each time that the inside handle 140 is reoonnected to themember 150,

the intermittent link 94 is moved to its coupled position with respectto the detent lever 68.

Thus this invention provides an improved closure latch.

We claim:

1. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a latch bolt movablebetween latched and unlatched positions, detent means holding the boltin latched position, inside release means, detent release means forreleasing the detent means, means operatively connected to the detentrer lease means and movable between coupled and uncoupled positions withrespect to the inside release means to selectively and alternativelyconnect and disconnect the inside release means and the detent releasemeans, means moving the movable means to uncoupled position uponmovement of the bolt to unlatched position, and releasable meansmaintaining the movable means in uncoupled position upon movement of thebolt from unlatched to latched position.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 including means for releasing thereleasable means to permit movement of the movable means to coupledposition.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 including means for releasing thereleasable means to permit movement of the movable means to coupledposition, and means for selectively disconnecting the detent releasemeans and the detent means to maintain the bolt in latched position uponoperation of the detent release means by the inside release means.

4. The combination recited in claim 1 including means for selectivelyconnecting and disconnecting the detent release means and the detentmeans, means for releasing the releasable means to permit movement ofthe movable means to coupled position, and a common operator foroperating the selective means to connect the detent release means andthe detent means and for operating the releasing means to release thereleasable means.

5. The combination recited in claim 4 wherein the common operatorsequentially operates the selective means and the releasing means.

6. The combination recited in claim 4 wherein the common operator isalternatively operative to disconnect the selective means withoutoperating the releasing means.

7. A closure latch comprising, in combination, a latch bolt movablebetween latched and unlatched positions, detent means holding the boltin latched position, inside release means, detent release means forreleasing the detent means, a shiftable member movable between a coupledposition wherein it operatively connects the inside release means andthe detent release means and an uncoupled position wherein itdisconnects the inside release means and the detent release means, meansbiasing the shiftable member to coupled position, means moving theshiftable member to uncoupled position against the action of the biasingmeans upon movement of the bolt to unlatched position, and releasablesecond detent means for holding the shiftable member in uncoupledposition upon movement of the bolt from unlatched to latched position.

8. The combination recited in claim 7 including a manual operator forreleasing the second detent means when the bolt is in latched positionto permit the biasing means to move the shiftable member to coupledposition.

9. The combination recited in claim 8 including means for moving thedetent release means between connected and disconnected positions withrespect to the first detent means, and a common manual operator forsequentially connecting the detent release means and the detent meansand releasing the second detent means.

10. The combination recited in claim 9 wherein the common manualoperator is selectively operable to conneet and disconnect the detentrelease means and the first detent means without operation of the seconddetent means.

11. The combination recited in claim 7 wherein the 7 v moving meansinclude an abutment on the bolt engageable with the shiftable member toshift the member to uncolpled position.

y12. The combination recited in claim 7 wherein the detent release meansincludes an intermittent kmember movable between connected anddisconnected posit/ions with respect to the detent means, and a lockinglever movable between locked and unlocked positions to selectivelydisconnect ad connect the intermittent member and the detent means, andwherein a common operator is provided for selectively and alternativelymoving the locking lever between locked and unlocked positions orreleasing the second detent means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Y RICHARD E. MOOREPrimaryExaminer U.S. Cl. X.R.

Patent No.

Inventor(s (s/ss) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Dated January 6, 1970Ronald R. Barnett and Joseph J. Magyar It s certified that error appearsin the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Column l, line Column 6, line line line line Column 7,

(SEAL) Attest:

features should read feature SIGNED AND SEALED JUL? Edward M Flether'It.

Aneefing Officer WILLIAM E. SCHUH-1ER, JR. Commissioner of Patents

